Now, as promised, a special comment about Sunday's Glory Pro Wrestling show at the Spaulding Hall Club in Alton, Illinois.
DISCLAIMER: I'm biased. Deal with it.
I don't know who is and isn't a "draw" nowadays, but I was all in for this show as soon as they announced Pentagon Jr.(aka Pentagon Dark, aka Penta El Cero Miedo) would be on the show. He's been one of my favorite competitors from Lucha Underground (which restarts on May 31st!) and I was fortunate to see him in person for the first time at All-American Wrestling in December. As has been tradition with Glory Pro, it was a loaded show on top of that feature bout and the attendance reflected that...let's get right to it.
Your ring announcer was Trina The Marky Smark; your referees were Richard White & Brandon Tolle.
"Pretty Reckless" Everett Connors vs. "The Product" David Starr: Connors was in new gear and the fans chanted "No More Beiber" in response. Starr had his extended ring introduction with many, many nicknames. Starr took a cheapshot on the opening handshake to solidify the audience against him...one of his highlight moves was a nasty-looking hanging DDT into the ring apron. Connors upped the ante by countering a Northern Lights suplex into a Canadian Destroyer-esque DDT...ouch. Starr went for the kill but Connors managed to counter into a sitout victory roll for the flash pin in 9:11...woo. Starr short-armed him on the post-match handshake, but then changed his mind because BROTHERS GOTTA HUG. Connors' chest was scarred from the chops...eep.
"The Death Machine" Sami Callihan vs. "The Lone Star" Curt Stallion: This was surprisingly early on the card and was as hard-hitting as you'd expect. Stallion has been wrestling all over the country and was one of the favorites in this year's Ring Of Honor Top Prospect Tournament; hopefully he'll get another shot in ROH in the near future. Callihan's been red hot on the independent circuit since his departure from NXT(where he was Solomon Crowe); he's also appeared in Lucha Underground as Jeremiah Crane and is the current All-American Wrestling Heavyweight Champion. The competitive affair came to a close when Callihan locked on the Stretch Muffler(leg-over-head half-crab) punctuated with kicks to the head, earning the tapout in 11:07.
Nine-Man Rumble-Style Gauntlet Match: This match saw two men start and new participants enter at regular intervals, with eliminations occurring by pinfall or submission. Think the Rumble match mode in No Mercy with ring-out eliminations turned off. #1 was "The Real-Life Ben Affleck" Alex Daniels(wait, what?) and #2 was "The Warhorse" Jake Parnell. The rest of the entries were: "The Stiff Robo Ginger" Gary Jay, Space Monkey(w/ bananas), "All Ego" Ethan Page, Jake Something, "The Mad Dragon" Hakim Zane, Brandon Espinosa, and Tyler Matrix. Matrix hails from Alabama and competes regularly for Ohio Valley Wrestling, as well as other parts of the Midwest. Daniels is an Ohio native and wrestles in that section of the country. Espinosa had an altercation with "The Dad Bod" Sean Orleans who was sitting in the front row; Orleans was left off the card after being beaten by Espy in short order at the first show.
No eliminations took place until all nine men had entered the match, which took about five or six minutes. Gary Jay's suicide dive attempt was caught by several wrestlers, but Parnell went to the top rope and hit a double-stomp onto the pile of humanity! Gary got into a slugfest with Something, but Matrix and Zane(respectively) took advantage with stereo rollups to eliminate them in 11:07. Espy got into it with Orleans again, provoking Orleans into throwing a beverage at Espinosa; Espy chased Orleans completely out of the building and then back into the war zone. As Orleans escaped through the ring, Zane hit a top-rope double-stomp to Espinosa's back and pinned him in 12:14. CONTINUITY~!
Daniels eliminated Matrix in 13:13 after hanging him up in the ropes and hitting a slingshot Buff Blockbuster. Space Monkey pinned Parnell in 13:57 after the, ahem, tail whip. Space Monkey brought his bananas into play but Daniels didn't fall for that old trick...Ethan Page got involved and DID slip on the banana peel on the mat. Daniels took advantage by crucifixing him on the mat for the elimination in 15:53! Page was furious over the embarrassing situation and destroyed Space Monkey with the Spinning Dwayne(Rock Bottom) and a sitout powerbomb before departing...Daniels scored the easy pin on the monkey in 16:50 after that. Just about everyone nearly forgot that Zane hadn't been eliminated; he and Daniels had a good closing stretch, ending with Daniels delivering a running Falcon Arrow into the turnbuckles before getting the final fall in 20:52! With the win, Alex Daniels has a guaranteed future shot at the Crown Of Glory Title.
Brian Kelley of Missouri Wrestling Revival presented Alpha Class("The Millenial" Danny Adams & Paco Gonzalez) with the award plaques for 2016 MWR Tag Team Of The Year. Some of their more notable feats occurred outside of the immediate area, including their Tag Team Title reign in central Illinois' Proving Ground Pro. Adams said that the award was cool, but it seemed like everyone was talking about Paco's tournament performance after the first Glory Pro show and no one was talking about him. They would be entering the tournament to crown the first United Glory Tag Team Champions, but on this night they would see how they fared in singles competition.
Paco Gonzalez(w/ Danny Adams) vs. Jason Cade: Cade hails from New York and has competed all over the country in his five-year career, having been trained by Norman Smiley. I look forward to seeing more of him in the future, but this was Paco's match to win; they had a really good matchup and Paco got the victory with a fireman's-carry fisherman driver in 8:02.
Louis Lyndon vs. "The Millenial" Danny Adams(w/ Paco Gonzalez): With Adams established as more of a rulebreaker, this was a different sort of match than the previous one with a different dynamic. Some people said it was the lesser of the two Alpha Class matches, but there were two different stories being told so it's not a simple comparison. I'm a fan of Lyndon and hope to see him work in this area again soon. Adams won by more questionable means than his partner, pushing the referee into the ropes to crotch Lyndon on the turnbuckle. Adams finished with a Ki-Krusher/fisherman driver in 12:12...despite the nature of the outcome, Danny & Paco made nice and set their sights on the upcoming United Glory Tag Title tournament.
Intermission~! Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm): Root beer, Mello Yello, Coca-Cola. The break from soda is a work in progress, needless to say.
The Besties In The World("The Miracle Worker" Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett) vs. The Pride("The Incredible Primal Prodigy" Matt Kenway (Look At Him) & Aaron Dzinic) vs. Zero Gravity(Brett Gakiya & C.J. Esparza) vs. The Boys From Jollyville(T-Money & Nasty Russ Myers): The unusual theme music choices tend to stand out, as The Besties entered to Savage Garden's "Truly Madly Deeply". It wasn't quite Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish of reDRagon coming out to Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me" at High Risk Wrestling, but it was close. I'd heard of the Jollyville duo but this was my first time seeing them; in other less-PG places, they go by "The Jollyville F***-Its". I feel like it was semi-racist of me to guess that the big black guy of the team was T-Money, even though I was correct. It had been some time since I'd seen Zero Gravity, though I think they worked Pro Wrestling Resurgence not too long ago. The Besties and Zero Gravity are both in the upcoming United Glory Tag Team Title tournament along with Alpha Class and The Fraternity(Channing Decker & Trent Gibson). This was an enjoyable multi-way schmozz; Vega pinned Kenway after he and Fitchett hit their Braineater(brainbuster onto the knee)/flying knee strike combo in 11:40.
"Unbreakable" Michael Elgin vs. Penta El Cero Miedo: The artist then known as Pentagon Jr. quickly became one of my favorites in Lucha Underground with his cool look and unique style. I saw Elgin a handful of times at indie shows before he became a breakout star with Ring Of Honor and then New Japan Pro Wrestling; he currently resides in the St. Louis area and trains a lot of the up-and-coming wrestlers. This was a hard-hitting war that spilled out of the ring for several minutes...it was a battle of Elgin's power against Penta's speed and agility. Both men survived incredible punishment over the course of the bout...it took two two Canadian Destroyers followed by a package piledriver to put away Elgin in 16:10! The fans threw money into the ring as a gesture of respect (since they got more than their money's worth)...I think it's a lucha libre thing. Elgin professed his respect for Penta, saying that Penta is one of his favorite wrestlers. He said that Penta would be back in Glory Pro as soon as possible...later in the show, it was announced that he would be back in October. WOO~!
Championship Committee Head MsChif brought out Kevin Harvey, who is a part of the SHIMMER promotion as well as the new RISE group. They announced the first women's match for Glory Pro(to take place at the May 26th event)...MsChif had the unenviable task of hyping the match when she wasn't involved (and that was DEFINITELY what the fans were hoping to hear). The match would feature Phoenix Of RISE Champion Shotzi Blackheart and Alexxia Nicole, neither of whom are well-known to more casual fans...I've heard good things and I'm sure they'll make a positive impression on the Midwest audience. I would definitely like to see women's wrestling featured more prominently in this area...Dynamo Pro has several female wrestlers in training, but the only area group with an established Women's Title is World League Wrestling(and that division is limited by Missouri licensing). (MMWA had a Women's Title but it's been defunct for several years.)
Jason "The Gift" Kincaid vs. "Hot Fire" Myron Reed for the Crown Of Glory Title: Reed won a six-way match at the inaugural show to earn this shot; Kincaid won an eight-man tournament at the show to become the first champion. A big guy named Jason Saint came out to ringside for the match; I think he was in attendance at the first show as well, but no one knew who he was. When the referee was knocked down, Saint brought the belt into the ring...but neither guy seemed to want his help. Reed punctuated that by kicking Saint out of the ring...but that brought out Barackus to lay out both men with Baldo Bombs, then assist Saint to the backstage area. Kincaid had been out of action with nagging injuries and may not have been at the same level as he was at the first show...but he had enough fight in him to hang onto his title in his first defense. Reed managed to outlast the champion and hit an insane somersault plancha over the turnbuckles and ringpost to the floor! He brought Kincaid back into the ring, hit his second standing backflip uranagi of the match(practically landing Kincaid on his head), and got the pinfall in 17:23 to capture the title! (The referee hesitated on the third count before calling for the bell, leaving some fans confused about the outcome...that didn't sit well with a lot of people.) At any rate, the 19-year-old Myron Reed had become the second Crown Of Glory Champion!
Glory Pro Wrestling has made a big impact on the area with just two shows and they have a lot lined up for the future...United Glory Tag Team Champions will be crowned at the next show and Reed will defend his newly-won title against Lucha Underground star Rey Fenix. Also, Elgin will go head-to-head with Keith Lee in an epic hoss battle...most tremendous.
I'm behind schedule and this weekend's shows are already in the books; commentaries on Pro Wrestling Resurgence and Dynamo Pro Wrestling will be forthcoming. Saturday was a busy night as the Mid-Missouri Wrestling Alliance and World League Wrestling also had shows; the National Wrasslin' League had its biweekly event in Kansas City, so wrestlers and referees were all over the place.
The rest of May looks like this:
-Saturday 5/20: Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling in East Carondelet, IL; Wrestling Over Everything in East St. Louis, IL
-Sunday 5/21: National Wrasslin' League in St. Louis, MO
-Friday 5/26: Glory Pro Wrestling in Alton, IL
That's my special comment for this, the nineteenth wrestling show I've attended in the year 2017. Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.
-PB, Watching Wrestling Wrong Since 1991
P.S. We are all marks.
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